energies Article Optimising the Concentrating Solar Power Potential in South Africa through an Improved GIS Analysis Dries. Frank Duvenhage 1,* , Alan C. Brent 1,2 , William H.L. Stafford 1,3 and Dean Van Den Heever 4 1 Engineering Management and Sustainable Systems, Department of Industrial Engineering, the Solar Thermal Energy Research Group and the Centre for Renewable and Sustainable Energy Studies, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch 7602, South Africa;
[email protected] (A.C.B.); wstaff
[email protected] (W.H.L.S.) 2 Sustainable Energy Systems, School of Engineering and Computer Science, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington 6140, New Zealand 3 Green Economy Solutions, Natural Resources and the Environment, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Stellenbosch 7600, South Africa 4 Legal Drone Solutions, Stellenbosch 7600, South Africa;
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[email protected] Received: 11 May 2020; Accepted: 16 June 2020; Published: 23 June 2020 Abstract: Renewable Energy Technologies are rapidly gaining uptake in South Africa, already having more than 3900 MW operational wind, solar PV, Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) and biogas capacity. CSP has the potential to become a leading Renewable Energy Technology, as it is the only one inherently equipped with the facility for large-scale thermal energy storage for increased dispatchability. There are many studies that aim to determine the potential for CSP development in certain regions or countries. South Africa has a high solar irradiation resource by global standards, but few studies have been carried out to determine the potential for CSP. One such study was conducted in 2009, prior to any CSP plants having been built in South Africa.